Falling Into Place A 'Jelly' FanFic
by DanielleLittle
Summary: "What kind of freak stays at work this late!" - The story of why Jen was at work late enough to catch Bart.
1. Chapter 1

**Falling Into Place – A 'Jelly' FanFiction**

"**What kind of freak stays at work this late?" The story behind why Jen was still at school to catch Bart.**

Jen couldn't help it. Whilst Tilly was in her lessons she found herself constantly staring, drifting off into different worlds. Worlds where they were together. Worlds where they could work.

It was insane. Over and over again Jen told herself that she was insane. She was a teacher, and Tilly was her student. God, she wasn't even a teacher yet. The phrase 'Over before it's even started' comes to mind.

But somehow, she still couldn't help looking. No matter how much she told herself not to, she still stared, still dared to dream. And what made it so much harder was that she knew Tilly was doing exactly the same thing. Jen would often catch Tilly smiling at her, and it was obvious from her work that she wasn't focusing in class.

They needed to talk, Jen knew this. But every time they tried, she got scared. She shouted and fired accusations when it was just as much her fault as Tilly's. More than in the eyes of the law. She was the one that would be fired, after all. But she needed to talk to her. She needed to get both of them back on track. Tilly's art was amazing, and Jen was not about to let her fail because she found a distraction. If it was anything else, she would have already dealt with it. Just because it involved her, why should it make a difference? It was still a student's work after all, and Jen had the responsibility of helping Tilly to her full potential. And with this oh so convincing story playing in the back of her mind, Jen finally bit the bullet and decided to approach Tilly.

As the bell sounded for the end of class, Jen practically had to run to stop Tilly leaving the room. That was the way it was now – Tilly got in and out of the classroom as fast as she could, no time for talking anymore. But Jen knew this by now and made sure she was by the door before the students left, then it was easy to ask Tilly to stay behind. It was just her friends she needed to get rid of now.

"We'll wait here for you, Tilly."

"It's OK, Maddie," Jen replied quickly. "This'll only take a second, but I'd appreciate it if you'd wait outside."

"Why, Miss Gilmore? Got something to hide?" Jen could feel Maddie glaring at her, though she didn't show it. Although Tilly denied it, Jen was sure that Maddie knew. Even if she didn't know the full story, she knew that something was going on. Or had gone on. Nobody would speak to a teacher like that. Ok, so she wasn't exactly a teacher yet, and Maddie was the beautiful, blonde, Queen Bee of the school that thought she could get away with anything, but even she used to have a little respect.

"Maddie, go and find George. He'll be waiting for us by the café." Jen smiled, silently thanking whoever's up there for keeping Tilly on her side, even after the way she treated her.

Maddie listened to Tilly straight away, and though she was reluctant to leave, she soon turned around, even shutting the door on her way out. Immediately Jen turned to Tilly, who was already walking towards the easel where her most recent work was waiting. With a deep breath, Jen tried to talk, but made another silent 'thank you' when Tilly beat her to it.

"I'm guessing you don't just want to talk about my work? What, with asking Maddie to leave and everything."

"Well, I… I do want to talk about your work, yes, actually. But we need to talk about something else too. You know what… I mean, of course you do, I mean, you know why… just-" Jen was cut off when Tilly lightly placed her finger over Jen's lips.

"You look cute when you get flustered."

Jen was shocked and her eyes widened as she pulled Tilly's hand away and tried to speak again, already knowing what she was going to say. And she could tell by the look in her eyes that Tilly had a pretty good idea too.

"Tilly, we can't. Not here, not now. I need to talk to you about it. We really need to… Oh, I don't know. But come back later. A few hours after sixth form finishes. I'll wait around… I mean, I have work to do anyway, so I can stay here for a while, and no one will be around then. We can talk properly."

"OK." It was a straight reply, and for some reason Jen felt guilty. She couldn't help thinking that she'd upset her, but what else could she do? This needed sorting. It was only when Jen noticed that Tilly had picked up her bag that she snapped out of her thoughts.

"Hold on you! We still need to talk about your work. I mean, seriously," Jen laughed as she walked towards Tilly's easel. "What on Earth is going on here?" Tilly laughed too, and Jen couldn't help thinking that she would never get tired of the sound.

Three o'clock came and went, and Jen grew all the more nervous as time went on. No matter how hard she tried to work, she could never quite convince herself to do it. Not well at least. The whole situation reminded her of the way she told herself that a relationship was insane. That was useless too.

Eventually, far later than she expected, Tilly turned up. It had gone seven by now, and Jen couldn't help but wonder how long she would have waited. Something told her she would have waited all night. Though she said hello, anything else was worthless. They both knew why they were here, why waste time putting off the conversation?

"I want to stay friends with you. You're a great girl, Tilly, and I want to keep you in my life, but it's too risky to be with you. You know that, don't you?"

"It won't work."

Jen was shocked. It was such a blunt answer. Normally, Tilly tries to convince her, tries to persuade her that a relationship was clearly the best option. Stunned, Jen could barley manage a reply, and eventually settled on "What?"

"It won't work, Jen. We've tried. Being friends doesn't work. Whenever we try to talk, I just want to touch you, to hold you, to kiss you. Jen, you can't tease me with that anymore."

"But I can't just let you go-"

"Then don't."

"Tilly, please…"

"Jen, what do you want me to say? I can't just keep pretending that nothing's going on between us. You can't either. You said yourself, we'll just keep getting distracted and someone will figure out what happened."

Tilly's words hurt. They were things that Jen had said to Tilly so many times before, but she didn't realise how much she could have hurt her. The idea of losing Tilly finally seemed real, and the pain that it caused her reduced her to whispers whilst the butterflies in her stomach burned and screamed as they tried to drag her to the floor.

"I don't want to lose you," Jen managed to whisper before feeling Tilly's hand cup her cheek. For the first time in weeks, she didn't fight it and simply let her eyes flutter shut. She didn't want to say anything. She didn't want Tilly to say anything. But she did. She said that one thing that could still shock her.

"Jen, I love you."

Jen's eyes flew open. She never thought about anything except Tilly. The only things that were ever on her mind were excuses she could use to talk to her. The only thing she never thought about was love. She wouldn't let herself. She knew what she'd find if she did.

But finally it was all coming together. She cared more about Tilly than she thought was possible, and she knew that Tilly felt the same for her. Maybe she was worth the risk. It was a stupid rule anyway. OK, so she didn't really trust herself – surely she'd do something to give it away – but with a little bit of caution, maybe they could make it work.

She loved Tilly. Of course she did, it was as clear as day to anyone who looked. It was time to stop thinking. She just didn't care anymore. Right now, it was only her and Tilly and nothing was going to separate them.

After a long pause, Jen took Tilly's hand and leaned forwards towards her. She let her lips brush across Tilly's and made a mental note of how soft they were. She could feel Tilly holding herself back, letting Jen lead, and once again Jen felt guilty. Tilly didn't want to scare her off again, like she had so many times before, though Jen could tell that she wanted just as much to close the tiny gap between them. Desperately Jen tried to think of something to say, but nothing really seemed appropriate, so she decided instead just to kiss her. Surely that says more anyway. But just as she'd decided on the best use for her mouth, there was a crash from the classroom next door and the two girls sprang apart.

"Leave."

Tilly turned to Jen, confused. "What? But I thought-"

"Tilly, leave. Whoever that is, you need to go. If it's staff, which is unlikely, then they can't see us together this late. If it's a student, which is even less likely, well, same reasons. And if it's neither, then you definitely need to get out of here."

"Well you do too!"

"No Tilly, you go. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"No you won't"

"Yes Tilly, I will, I promise. Please just go." At that Tilly turned and ran towards the door, sweeping up her bag as she passed it. Just as she reached the door Jen called out after her.

"Tilly!" Tilly stopped but did not turn around. "I love you." The minute the words had left Jen's mouth Tilly turned around and ran back to her. She wrapped one arm around Jen and pulled their lips together. She kissed her so passionately that all Jen felt from her was love. Almost as soon as it had started, Tilly pulled away and ran out of the room. Jen took a moment to compose herself, whispering yet another silent thank you, before carefully walking towards the room next door.

When Jen got to the room she took a deep breath before opening the door and turning on the light. What she saw was Bart McQueen, desperately trying to unplug a computer from the wall. On seeing Bart a wave of relief swept through her – somehow she knew that he had more problems than she did. With one final thought of Tilly, Jen turned her mind to the problem in front of her. She didn't mind. She'd see Tilly tomorrow. Finally, everything was falling into place.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello all! Despite originally planning for this to be a sort of fill-in-the-gap one-shot thing, I have decided to upload another chapter :D (And I've already started work on chapter three so that's coming too!) I won't lie, not a lot really happens in this chapter – I actually started writing chapter three first, then decided there was a bit of a gap between the two that I didn't like. This was just written to fill that really.**

**I'd just like to say thanks for all the amazing reviews – this story is actually going towards an English project I'm doing and I need to include feedback, so the reviews are really helpful. Keep them coming please! :D**

**By the way, I know the ending's poor. Sorry about that. I had total block and spent about an hour on it, but absolutely nothing was happening so I just left it.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**Falling Into Place – A 'Jelly' FanFiction**

**Chapter Two**

"**No Tilly, you go. I'll talk to you tomorrow, I promise."**

Tilly was the last thing Jen thought about before she went to sleep that night, and the first thing she thought about when she woke the next morning. She thought it was quite ironic really; she had always wanted her own little dramatic love story, and now she had one… well, she'd rather get rid of it quite frankly. But it was worth it for Tilly. That was the one thing in amongst the mess and confusion that she was certain of. Everything was worth it for Tilly.

Jen spent longer than usual that morning just lying in her bed, remembering what had happened the day before. As much as the entire thing had stressed her out completely, it had been truly amazing. Touching her, holding her, being honest with each other, just loving each other; remembering it all made her head spin. And the kiss. Jen raised her fingers to her lips as she remembered it. The softness of Tilly's lips, the way they felt on her own. It was magical.

Then she remembered Tilly's disappointment when Jen asked her to leave. She knew she did the right thing – it wouldn't have been safe or practical for Tilly to have stayed – but she still felt guilty. Tilly had thought that the entire event was a one night thing, that Jen would just return to her normal self the next day and tell her that she couldn't do it. And Jen had told Tilly that she would talk to her. She'd promised her, but Tilly still didn't believe her. Practically leaping out of bed, Jen grabbed her phone from the bedside table and decided there was no way that she was going to let Tilly down again.

The phone rang for a long time. Too long in Jen's opinion, and quite frankly it should already have gone to answering machine and not be making her wait at the other end, hoping she wasn't ringing to late to catch her, and wondering if Tilly would be cross for ringing her so late and –

"Hello, you. You're up early."

Early? Jen looked at the clock above her desk and saw that yes, she was actually awake about an hour earlier than she usually was. Scrap forgiveness for ringing her too late, Jen just hoped that Tilly wasn't annoyed at being woken up.

"Yes, umm… sorry. I didn't realise it was this early. Did I wake you up?"

Tilly laughed in response. "Yeah, you did. But don't worry, there's nothing I'd be happier waking up to than a phone call from you. Except maybe you actually being here."

Jen was laughing as well now, relieved that Tilly wasn't angry with her. Suddenly Jen had a wash of realisation at how paranoid she was being. All she'd done was phone her, why on Earth would she be angry? Silly Jen…

For a moment they sat in silence, quite happy just knowing that the other was there. It was Jen that spoke first.

"Tilly, I just wanted you to know that I'm still here. I haven't changed my mind, or got scared, or… I don't know. But I'm still here. Last night wasn't just… nothing. It was… I don't know… something. Something important that I don't actually have a word for." Tilly laughed then. She really did find it cute when Jen got flustered like that. She wouldn't tell her though. Not for a while anyway – she got in trouble for saying it before. "Seriously though, Tilly. I want to be with you. There's no more hiding from it. I know you were worried about me doing that."

Tilly didn't reply at first. She didn't really know what to say. She had been worried about that, but she didn't want to offend Jen in saying so. Eventually she decided that there was no room for concerns like that in their relationship. For something like this to work, they had to be totally honest with each other.

"You've done it so many times before, Jen. I just didn't know if this was another one of those times. I thought you'd find me today to tell me that it was a mistake, and that would be that. Until next time of course."

"No, Tilly, never again. I love you, and that's all that matters now. Hey, since we now know that it's only naughty school boys that turn up at ridiculous hours of the night, we can keep meeting in my classroom for a while. Until we find something better at least."

"Umm… yeah, that sounds ok, but what on Earth are you talking about? Naughty school boys?"

Jen laughed and told Tilly the story of the night before. They spent the rest of the conversation laughing and joking with each other, before Jen realised that she probably needed to get to work at some point, and they agreed to meet at the same time and place as the day before. After putting the phone down, Jen stayed sitting on her bed a while longer, thinking over the conversation that just happened and discovering that it was physically impossible to keep a smile from her face. She decided it would be very nice if they could meet up outside of school – just a quiet night in with a movie perhaps. Yeah, a quiet night in would be nice. They were together now after all; they should probably start doing some together-y stuff. But they had nowhere to stay, so what could she do? For now, they would just have to meet at the school and deal with it. It was a start at least, and a start was all they really needed. Lost in her thoughts, Jen failed to notice that time was slowly pressing on and she ended up being very late for her first class. Despite this, Jen kept smiling - for the first time in weeks she felt genuinely happy.

Caught up in the same way, Tilly was also late for that lesson, but the two of them kept smiling, silently sharing the thought that it wasn't long until they could properly see each other again.


	3. Chapter 3

**I am so sorry this took so long to do! I've been away for a few weeks without internet so everything had to be put on hold. Still, here's chapter three, I hope you enjoy it.**

**By the way, I currently have no inspiration at all for a fourth chapter, but I'm not going to rule it out. Don't expect one too soon, but I promise I'll try.**

**Falling Into Place – A 'Jelly' FanFiction**

**Chapter Three**

"**Yeah, a quiet night in would be nice. They were together now after all; they should probably start doing some together-y stuff."**

It had been exactly a month since Jen and Tilly had met after school, and after learning that no one was ever around at that time except naughty students (which in itself was quite rare – most of them wanted to be out as soon as possible) they took to meeting every night. Though neither of them really liked being in the school so late, it was the only place where they knew they wouldn't get caught. Neither of them had their own place, so school it had to be. Besides, they were happy there. As much as they moaned to each other that they wanted to get out, they were never happier than when focusing purely on art and each other.

Jen had already planned that she would nip out to grab a bottle of something nice before meeting Tilly that day; she certainly believed that going a month without being caught or her having some sort of panic attack was definitely an achievement. But she mentally cancelled those plans after Tilly turned up to her classroom at lunch. Of course, Jen was overjoyed to see Tilly, but it was obvious that she was trying to get in and out quickly.

"Tilly, what's the matter? You look really stressed."

"Oh, it's nothing, Jen." There was no conviction in Tilly's voice and Jen raised her eyebrows at her. "Really, I'm fine. I told Maddie and George that I was only going to the loo, so I'm just worried about them catching me here. The 'I need to ask Miss Gilmore about my work' excuse is getting a little overused." Tilly laughed the last bit and Jen relaxed, laughing with her.

"So what brings my favourite girl here, then? Or did you just want to see me?" Jen knew there'd be a reason, but it didn't hurt to flirt a little.

"Oh, you know I always want to see you, Jen. But I can't come to meet you tonight. Sorry."

"Oh." Jen was disappointed, and it upset Tilly to hear it, but before she could give an excuse Jen carried on. "Going anywhere special?"

"Unfortunately not. Sinead asked me to come round and I couldn't think of an excuse fast enough. Besides, if I keep making myself unavailable then someone will catch on sooner or later."

"Sinead? Well, I'll see you anyway then." Jen winked at Tilly as she said this and Tilly hit her in return.

"Don't even think of trying anything, you! I'm there to see Sinead, remember that."

"I know, honey. Well, at least I'll have something to stare at while I'm working." Tilly laughed, then quickly kissed Jen and left to find the others. Once she'd left, Jen sighed before turning back to her work. She knew that Sinead and she were supposed to be alone in the house that night, so it didn't surprise her that she was bringing people back. It was just her luck that one would be Tilly.

Jen spent most of her time after school at home on her own. She began to wonder if Sinead was actually going to bring the others back, or if they'd all just collapsed on a pavement somewhere. It wouldn't be surprising really; those girls had a habit of drinking far too much. A small voice perked up at the back of her mind telling her that she should probably be worried, just in case that had happened. She dismissed it. They were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.

Just as the voice left, the door opened and Sinead walked in, with Tilly right behind her. Jen looked up and smiled at the girls, shocked to see that Sinead hadn't brought back an entire party. Tilly happily smiled back at Jen, and Sinead gave her the usual 'why are you smiling at me?' look before stalking upstairs. Tilly giggled slightly and followed behind her. Shaking her head, Jen turned her attention back to the marking she had been doing, laughing to herself when she realised that she got her work done a lot quicker when she wasn't wondering where Tilly was.

Barely ten minutes passed before Sinead strode back down the stairs and out the front door, without even glancing in Jen's direction. For a few seconds Jen just stared at the door, wondering what was going on, then Tilly came down the stairs and she got distracted.

"Something happened?" She asked as Tilly took a seat opposite her.

"Sinead's just going to get some drinks. She'll be back in a minute."

"Oh, got bored of her sober?" Jen teased. Tilly playfully went to hit Jen's arm, but Jen moved and caught her hand mid-air, holding it gently in place. She stroked Tilly's hand with her thumb as Tilly spoke to her.

"Jen, don't be horrible! Actually, I had a bit of a plan."

"Ooh, go on."

"Well, as much as I love Sinead, I would really rather spend time with you."

"Aww, bless."

"Shut up. Anyway, I know what Sinead's like on alcohol. She's great fun for a while, but has a habit of passing out pretty quickly. So, if I get enough down her, I can put her to bed and spend the rest of the evening with you."

"Hmmm, sounds like a plan. Just don't drink too much yourself or that could completely backfire."

"Yeah, I know," Tilly laughed. "Don't worry, I won't." They smiled at each other for a moment, then Tilly leapt up as the front door swung open and Sinead stumbled in, carrying far too many bottles for just two people. Tilly laughed and went to help her. Jen immediately got back to work – if the amount Sinead was carrying was anything to go by, she wouldn't have long to finish it before Tilly joined her for the night.

She was right. Only an hour later Jen heard a door shutting above her and Tilly's footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Out already?"

"Yep. Told you she didn't need to drink a lot."

"Good, 'cause I've wanted to do this all day." At that, Jen stood up, walked over to Tilly and wrapped one arm around her waist, tangling the other in her hair, and pulled her in for a kiss. At Jen's touch, Tilly relaxed against her and wrapped her own arms around the older woman. Time seemed to stop around them; nothing mattered when they were together. So what if they weren't really allowed?

The two girls spent the entire night together, loving that they could finally spend just a little time not worrying about other people. Although they had to be quiet in order to make sure Sinead didn't wake up, it didn't stop them from joking around and teasing each other, or lying next to each other and swapping stories and secrets. It was only when the girls heard movement from upstairs that they noticed how much time had gone by. Realising that their night had come to an end, Tilly gave Jen one last kiss before getting up to make coffee, and Jen ran upstairs, hoping to get to her room before Sinead emerged from hers.

By the time Sinead had finally stumbled down the stairs, Tilly had already made her a cup of coffee, and she presented it to Sinead as she collapsed on to the sofa.

"Why the hell are you already up?" Sinead asked Tilly, turning to look at her. "God, you look dreadful. Did you actually get any sleep?"

"I'm sure I look no worse than you!" Tilly laughed in return. "I'm just a little hung over. Seems we're in the same boat."

"Yeah well, don't forget whose idea it was to get through enough alcohol for eight people."

The morning continued to pass in a regular, hung over fashion, Tilly even managing to ignore that Jen looked just as bad as them. Fortunately, in the brief time that it took for Jen to leave that flat, Sinead didn't seem to notice. Tilly smiled to herself, and decided that she was definitely taking care of the relationship now – her ideas were always better than Jen's.


End file.
